


Bugs and Peat Fire

by saphsaq



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Found Family, Gen, Lah'mu (Star Wars), One Shot, Post-Rogue One, fluff (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-24 22:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saphsaq/pseuds/saphsaq
Summary: In the spririt of the season a happy ending to one of the grittier Star Wars stories! The war is over, Jyn wants to go home and Cassian... well, that sort of thing happening when people do not really talk to each other.Why did I come up with peat fire and bugs and lots of fog, clouds and mist? From all filming localtions of Rogue One I know one by heart:Lah'mu. For the astrophysics behind Lah'mu's planetary ring please refer toThe Rings of the Earth. And Ryloth-Jeb's name is courtesy of theTwi'lek Name Generator.Many thanks to my stalwart beta readersDragaoandRedone! You put so much work in this little story, I'm humbled. Any error still present is entirely on me.
Relationships: Cassian Andor & Jyn Erso
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3
Collections: A Light in the Dark: A Star Wars Solstice Exchange (2019)





	Bugs and Peat Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [estelraca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/estelraca/gifts).



Since landing on Lah'mu with a freighter full of farm supplies they hadn't talked much. Partly because neither of them did feel the need to, their motions precise and in unison after working side by side since half a decade. And partly because Cassian had the absurd feeling that if he opened his mouth, one of the veils of mist, so abundant on this planet, would seep in, spreading the clammy feeling he had on the outside to the inside. He stole a glance at Jyn, then moved the last vat to its intended spot at the foot of the moisture vaporator. She had tinkered on a vent and now thumbed through the content of a datapad. Tapping his foot against the foundation platform they were standing on, Cassian said: "Solid."

Jyn looked up, her expression unreadable to him: "Has to be. It used to be the foundation of the radio unit. I don't need it. The freighter’s got one, and I'm gonna live in it for a long time anyway."

There. Now it was out. _I_ will live in the freighter, not _we_. After the New Republic had declared victory and disarmament, from one moment to the next they had been free to build themselves a civilian life. Rogue One, which had been their unquestioned and tight-knit family, had disintegrated faster than he could follow. And when he eventually was ready to dig in his heels and make this unravelling stop, it was almost too late. _Almost_. Cassian opened his mouth—but at that moment another bank of fog drifted in and the lights on the moisture vaporator sprang to life and a soft clicking inside the machine told it was now productive.

"Good," exclaimed Jyn, "let's set up a fire! The ring is light, but the nights are cold." The planetary ring, the remainder of one of Lah'mu's ancient moons, was a mere pale smudge in the dark grey of the clouds.

At first there was just smoke, but then little flames started licking over the brownish lumps, which had been much heavier than Cassian had expected. He watched how the flames consumed more and more of the peat, turning it into nuggets of orange light and most welcome warmth. "You sure that helps against them?" Cassian gestured in the direction of the pile of permacrete and rebar that once had been the dome of a rotund farmhouse.

A smile tugged at the corners of Jyn's mouth, crept slyly over her face, reached her eyes—then she laughed softly. "It does." She used her datapad as a makeshift fan to wave a tendril of the acrid smoke away from her. "The bugs have crawled over your soft urbanite skin. Wait until you see the bunker in the Black Gulch I'd been hiding in!"

Cassian felt his face became hot, but that might have been the heat of the fire. He changed the subject: "I thought Saw blew up everything."

"He tried." The smile had vanished from Jyn's face, she raised her chin in a way he knew meant strain. "Know what's funny? In this respect, Saw Guerrera was like the Empire. Trying to destroy everything. But not succeeding." Falling silent, she turned her head and stared over the flat marsh stretching to the horizon.

Cassian shifted. "Yeah, but even for an unsuccessful try, not much is left." The metal crate they were sitting on was still uncomfortably cold.

Jyn snorted. "On Lah'mu the houses have to be earthquake-proof, because of its active volcanoes. The houses don't break easily. They just don't!" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, pursing her mouth diffidently.

Cassian's gaze had followed hers to the vast black and green chequered flatland. He sat upright: "We're getting visitors."

Watching a fast approaching landspeeder, neither moved or spoke. Jyn only put her datapad aside to have her hands free. She, like him, still carried a couple of weapons with her.

The speeder came to a stop in a well calculated distance between them and the freighter parked under the mound of the homestead. An old Twi'lek with a half missing lekku emerged from it. He wore a blouson and trousers made from black fabric with a wet, oily shimmer, and Cassian wondered briefly if such was the garb locals were destined to wear on this wet planet. The Twi'lek approached them unhurriedly with a bow-legged, swaggering gait. From the other side of the fire he said: "Hullo!" He held a blaster rifle casually in one hand.

"Hullo, Jeb!" Jyn returned the greeting without rising from her place by the fire.

The Twi'lek squinted at her, then nodded. "Little Erso. Got something for you." He went to his speeder and when he came back he was holding a battered pot instead of the rifle. "I have a set of plates and a couple of tools as well in the shag. You can fetch them when you've gotten a foot on the ground. I'll be out fishing later when the weather clears."

The Twi'lek put down the pot on the other side of the fire. Jyn smiled. "Yeah, see you," she said taking her datapad up again.

When the speeder was gone Cassian blurted out: "Vultures!"

In an instance Jyn's stance changed. "Do you think he stole my parents' stuff? Really?! What do you think happens with an abandoned farm on such a world? There are about 500 people living on Lah'mu. If a farm is abandoned, you simply won't let stuff sit and rot." She had spoken out loud and made a wide gesture encompassing everything: the ruins, the hard black soil, the low hanging clouds, the twilight of the ring. For a moment Cassian thought she would jump up, to continue the lecture about such a world and its customs, but then Jyn's lips quivered. She faltered and started crying. Wordlessly Cassian took the datapad from her hands and put an arm around her shoulders.

After a while her sobbing subsided. It was getting more and more infrequent until Jyn eventually wiped her face with a hand and shook Cassian's arm off. "That was Jebbagaq, Ryloth-Jeb, our closest neighbour back then. His homestead is up to the West, on the coast. He's a fisherman... Anything more... Anything else I don't know about him... Or... Or my home… Lah'mu."

Cassian bit his lips. In a couple of hours Bodhi's old U-wing would arrive and pick him up. Or...

"I was eight when I left Lah'mu. What I know about the place I learned from this here." Jyn waved the datapad with a sad smile.

"Perhaps consult it again?" he offered.

"It says, coming folkmoot I can demand to get back everything that was salvaged." Her words sounded doubtful but she steeled herself. "Shall I show you the Black Gulch now?"

 _Before you leave_ , thought Cassian. And, that the prospect of more bugs in dark, cavernous rooms was not enticing. "If you don't mind, I'd rather want to see the sea."

Jyn had not pointed the nose of the speeder straight down the way a river with many distributaries flows towards the shore. Instead her route had skirted the foothills behind the black and green marsh, going further up west. The mountain range gradually closed in on the flatland until the sea barred its way. Yet, it looked as if the mountains were resolved to try and break that barrier: two mighty arcs spanned the water, ending with a steep cliff and a string of rocks peeking out of the waves.

They went the last couple of steps to the upper rim of the cliff over a thick turf of little, sturdy, dark-green plants. Down below, the sea was churning, black like the rock it ran against. "And how do you spend your spare time in this desolate place? Knapping tiny knives from obsidian?"

Jyn seemed to be unaware of his sarcasm. "You wondered why the peat was so heavy, didn't you? It's the iron the plants collect. Ma and Dad showed me how to cast trinkets from it." She fell silent, apparently debating whether she should say more. Eventually she said: "It was here that we came to rest and really were a family. That's why I wanted to come back."

Cassian knew Jyn was regarding him now, but he avoided her gaze and looked over the sea instead. The weather had cleared, the primary star of the planet was shining on the ring. It was now a wide, bright arc in a high, pearly sky. A tiny boat was riding across the glittering waves at the horizon. "Do you think Jeb would need a hand in fishing?" He felt Jyn relax.

"I feared you would never say it," she chuckled.

He felt absurdly joyful. "Bodhi told me that Chirrut and Baze are in the middle of learning how to levitate things. And K-2 wants to write its memoirs... I think they'll appreciate a tranquil place like Lah'mu too."

When they went back to their speeder, they were holding hands.


End file.
